January 24, 2011
Carola Vyhnak

Toronto Star
Councillor Doug Dickerson was appointed acting mayor for Pickering.

Pickering’s bickering over Deputy Dickerson.

Councillor Doug Dickerson is drawing fire from critics who say he has no business using the title “deputy” mayor of the city when he’s merely “acting.”

Nonsense, snorts Dickerson, who can’t believe one little word would trigger such a tiff. “Acting is for actors. I’ll call myself whatever I want.” The terms are synonymous and anyone who thinks otherwise “is on drugs or completely off their rocker,” he fumes.

The spat began six weeks ago, when council appointed Dickerson acting mayor to fill in for the real thing, Dave Ryan, when he’s ill or away. Since then he’s used the title freely, saying in a newsletter he was “honoured” to have been selected.

“That’s wrong,” says Bill McLean, one of three regional councillors who shared the responsibilities of acting mayor in the past. Dickerson is exaggerating a figurehead job to empower himself, he argues.

McLean gives the example of Toronto’s former deputy mayor Joe Pantalone, who was seen as David Miller’s “go-to man.” By using the deputy term, Dickerson is presenting himself as Ryan’s “right-hand man on a continuous basis.”

Maurice Brenner, who served as acting mayor on and off during his 21 years on council, agrees. “There’s a huge difference,” Brenner says, noting that acting mayor is a temporary job, while “deputy mayor” suggests specific duties and “brings a perception of power.”

Chief administrative officer Tony Prevedel treads lightly around the linguistic landmine. “We don’t have a definition,” he said. “We haven’t encountered this before.”

The resolution passed in December specifies that one person is appointed “acting mayor” for the full four-year term, he explained. Previously, regional councillors each took the job for one-third of the term.

The role comes with “very nominal duties,” says Prevedel, who hopes a staff report next month will defuse the feud.

Dickerson calls it all a “tempest in a teapot.” His resume lists 10 years as deputy mayor from his time as a regional councillor for Pickering.

But the real mayor is on his side. “Deputy mayor, acting mayor — the words are used interchangeably in various municipalities,” says Ryan. “They’re all one and the same.”

There’s no problem, Ryan adds, “just as long as he doesn’t call himself mayor.”